Beauty and the Beast

Disclaimer: I still don't own Teen Titans. Are you really gonna make me keep this up?

Story 3: Amethyst

Raven sat outside of the tower and looked up at the stars which dotted the sky. Today she had said some pretty mean things to Beast Boy, and now she was regretting them. This was the first time she had felt like this; confused and startled. When she thought about him, her heart jumped; he was different from the rest of her friends. He was something more.

She sighed and leaned back, shivering when the cold from the glass seeped through the fabric of her cloak and tickled her skin. Maybe he hadn't thought anything of her harsh words; after all, he usually let those things slip past his mind. But Raven felt like this time she had done something unforgivable, because by this time he should have found her and should have tried to convince her to go and join the others. She closed her eyes and fixed her cloak around her legs. It was starting to get cold.

"Rae."

Beast Boy's voice startled her, but she didn't open her eyes. She felt too ashamed to face him; to see the hurt look on his face, the sadness in his eyes. Raven didn't know what she could say to him, because sorry didn't seem like the right word, and she could never tell him how she really felt. She couldn't let anyone know she was vulnerable to something like love.

She heard him sigh and move closer, and she shied away when she felt him sit beside her.

"I'm sorry," Beast Boy said flatly, "If you want me to leave just say so."

She frowned and buried her face in her arms. He had no idea how hard it was for her to be around him, how fragile she was now that she'd opened her heart up to him. She needed to protect herself, needed to make sure that nothing could hurt her again.

"SAY something," he groaned, "Anything."

"I…."

He chuckled softly and his hand fell down beside his leg, near her foot. "You really don't hate me, right?"

Raven didn't know how to answer him, but shook her head. How could she hate him? Even if he was the most annoying thing on the planet, she couldn't find it within her to hate him; after all, she was in love.

"If you don't hate me, then look up," he told her softly.

She pulled her head away from her hands and turned to face him, her lavender eyes shimmering softly in the moonlight. She hoped that he couldn't tell that she had been crying. Raven was not supposed to cry; she was invincible, a stone, someone who could not sink to tears.

"Well, this is a start," he said happily, "I figured after what you told me today, you'd never attempt to notice my existence again."

Raven didn't laugh; instead she turned her face from him again. She didn't understand how he could be so forgiving of her. Each and every time he seemed to let things go; and always she did something to him again and again. This would never end, and she felt as if they had been doomed from the start. They were opposites in more ways than one.

"Raven," he said, "Why won't you ever just tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," she replied, "I just wanted to look at the stars."

Beast Boy shook his head and glanced up at the sky. "You haven't looked at a single star since I've been out here."

She shook her head and didn't answer him; she was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would let everything slip. She couldn't let him know anything else about her. She needed to stop trusting him, needed to close herself up again. Things were better when she wasn't so open.

He sighed and turned toward her, and she glanced at him; the expression on his face was unreadable, and for a moment she quivered with the fear of not understanding him at all. Maybe this was how he felt when he dealt with her; the tables were slowly turning.

"Raven, please tell me what's wrong. I forgive you for those words, it that's what's bothering you."

He was always too kind to her; she was too undeserving of his kindness.

"I don't understand," she whispered softly, more to the night than to anyone else.

He watched her with worried emerald eyes. "What don't you understand?"

She turned her body so that she faced him, still leaning against the tower. "I don't understand how you can always be so nice to me, when I'm hardly nice to you."

Beast Boy smiled and reached out, grabbing Raven and pulling her to him. "That's because…I love you," he answered tenderly.

Raven crumbled then, and everything she had been holding back spilled from her soul. She buried her face into his neck, her fingers dug into his shoulders, and Raven cried.

"Don't cry," Beast Boy said, and held her tighter, "I didn't mean to make you cry…"

"Gar," her voice was barely audible, "I…think…"

"Hmm?"
"…I love you."

Beast boy smiled into her hair. He didn't say anything else, but let her cry; his arms and her cloak shielding her from the eyes of the world. Finally, after what seemed ages, she stopped crying; tears had left her exhausted and sleep had set in. Beast boy beamed and closed his eyes, though he did not sleep.

How could he sleep, when against him lay the bundle of amethyst?

A/N: Yes. I've lost my mind entirely. I've had a bad weekend when it comes to love. This is what happens when I try to cope. Review.